Courses

nanoHUB-U: Physics of Electronic Polymers

Course Overview

Course Description

Polymer-based electronic devices are emerging in next-generation applications that range from advanced display designs to real-time biomedical monitoring. After ~30 years since the first report of a complete organic electronic device (i.e., the organic light-emitting diode), the polymer electronics community has reached a point where the fundamental knowledge of these unique semiconductors has allowed their utilization in key flexible and stretchable electronic applications that have been, or soon will be, commercialized.

In this course, you will gain an understanding of the basic principles and physics of these materials -- which operate in a manner that is distinctly different than traditional (e.g., silicon-based) semiconductors -- and quickly come up to speed in a paradigm-altering field.

In particular, this course will focus on the nanoscale phenomena regarding the physics of semiconducting polymers. This includes how molecular architecture impacts nanoscale structure (e.g., crystalline texture), optical properties, and electronic properties. You will learn to design new materials, consider structure/processing windows, and develop fundamental concepts regarding the physics of charged species in polymer electronics through participation in this course.

What You will Learn

Design of semiconducting polymers

How macromolecular design impacts nanostructure

Common structure-property relationships of semiconducting polymers

Prerequisites

2 semesters of undergraduate chemistry

2 semesters of undergraduate physics

1 semester of undergraduate calculus

Course Outline

Unit 1: Introduction to Polymer Physics

L1.1 Molecular Weights in Polymeric Materials

L1.2 Spatial Extent of Polymer Chains

L1.3 The Freely Rotating Chain Model

L1.4 Defining Parameters in Chain Statistics

L1.5 Persistence Length and Wormlike Chains

L1.6 The Radius of Gyration

L1.7 Introduction to Solution Theory

L1.8 Flory-Huggins Theory

L1.9 Factors That Impact the Interaction Parameter

L1.10 Experiments and the Interaction Parameter

Unit 2: Thermodynamics and Crystallinity in Macromolecules

L2.1 Introduction to Crystalline Polymers

L2.2 Unit Cells in Semicrystalline Polymers

L2.3 Melting Semicrystalline Polymers

L2.4 Thermodynamics of Polymer Crystallization

L2.5 Melting and Thompson-Gibbs Equation

L2.6 Liquid Crystalline Semiconducting Polymers

L2.7 Macromolecular Structure & Liquid Crystallinity

L2.8 Crystallization Kinetics: Nucleation

L2.9 Crystallization Kinetics: Growth

L2.10 Polymer Crystallization and Nanostructure

Unit 3: Nanoscale Structure in Functional Polymers

L3.1 Operating Mechanism of OFETs

L3.2 Crystallinity and Connectivity in OFETs

L3.3 A Model for Polymer-based OFET Transport

L3.4 Operating Mechanisms of OPVs

L3.5 Thermodynamic Mixing Theories and OPVs

L3.6 Domain Purity in Nanostructured OPVs

L3.7 Additives in OPV Active Layers

L3.8 Introduction to Thermoelectric Devices

L3.9 The Promise of Polymer Thermoelectrics

L3.10 Doping in Polymer Thermoelectrics

Unit 4: Controlling Charge Flow through Polymer Nanostructure

L4.1 Order and Alignment in Polythiophene

L4.2 Crystalline Domain Sizes in P3AT OFETs

L4.3 Aligning P3HT Crystalline Domains

L4.4 Polymers with Large Crystalline Domain Sizes

L4.5 Introduction to Block Polymer OPV Devices

L4.6 Assembly of P3HT-based Block Polymers

L4.7 Solving the Fibril Issue in P3AT Block Polymers

L4.8 An Introduction to Radical Polymers

L4.9 Solid-State Transport in Radical Polymers

L4.10 Doping in Radical Polymers

Unit 5: Device Application of Polymer Semiconductors

L5.1 Balancing Electronic & Mechanical Properties

L5.2 Overview of Polymer Mechanics

L5.3 Transient Responses of Polymer Mechanics

L5.4 Intrinsically Stretchable OFETs

L5.5 Stretchable Organic Photovoltaic Devices

L5.6 Organic Electrochemical Transistors (OECTs)

L5.7 Biological Applications of OECTs

L5.8 Introduction to Organic Light-emitting Devices

L5.9 Design Considerations for OLEDs

L5.10 Course Review

Course Resources

A free nanoHUB.org account is required to access some course components.

Online quizzes to quickly assess understanding of material after most video lectures.

An online forum, hosted by nanoHUB. Students enrolled in the course will be able to interact with one another.

Physics of Electronic Polymers first published on edX, May 2017 and nanoHUB-U, August 2017.

Licensing

Registration

This self-paced course is available at no cost.

nanoHUB-U is powered by nanoHUB.org, the home for computational nanoscience and nanotechnology research, education, and collaboration.

About the Instructor

Bryan Boudouris earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Before joining the faculty at Purdue, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
His research interests include design of optoelectronically active polymers, functional block copolymer self-assembly, polymer-based electronics and solar cells.